Pierre Boulez (26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor, writer, and pianist.

Until his death, Boulez remained one of the leading exponents of 20th-century music. His compositions made a huge contribution to musical culture, and his advocacy of modern and postmodern music was decisive for many. From 1976 to 1995, he held the Chair in "Invention, technique et langage en musique" at the Collège de France. In 2001, he was the recipient of the Grawemeyer Prize for music composition, for his work Sur Incises. In 2002, he was awarded the Glenn Gould Prize for his contributions. In 2004, he founded the Lucerne Festival Academy, a summer orchestral institute for young musicians, dedicated to music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Early in 2012, Boulez cancelled conducting engagements after an eye operation left him with severely impaired sight. Other health problems included a shoulder injury resulting from a fall. He died on 5 January 2016, at his home in Baden-Baden, at the age of 90. He had been ill for some time and had been unable to take part in the many celebrations, held across the world, for his 90th birthday.

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